I don't know if you've heard, but there's a growing group of people who are a part of the flat earth movement. NBA basketballer Kyrie Irving took a lot of heat for being in this conspiracy group and ended up apologizing publicly for his beliefs.

Basically, flat-earthers are convinced the earth is not a ball, but an elongated disc.

I'm not one to judge, but this is simply cray-cray.

It was ol' Pythagoras (the a2+ b2 = c2 Math guy) who discovered the earth was round and not flat, dispelling the myth of falling off the edge of the earth if you head due West.

The modern flat-earth movement was started by a religious fanatic named Samuel Rowbotham. Long-story-short, Rowbotham was convinced the earth was flat after performing an experiment in his backyard. He wrote a pamphlet about his findings which later became a book, and basically started a cult around his theory. If you dig a bit deeper, Rowbotham was a charlatan selling ideas and spinning half-truths for money most of his days.

You can't make this stuff up.

And, you see what I mean by cray-cray.

If you want to know what's wrong with something find out where it originated.

Which brings me to the peculiar piece of advice for getting ahead I wanted to share with you today:

If you really want to get ahead, then you need to stop and go all the way back to the beginning.

It sounds counterintuitive going backward to go forward, but it's hands-down one of the best ways to get ahead.

Let me explain.

When you go back to before you even began you can clearly see where you need to go next. By reverse-engineering your current situation you can pivot and change course to hit your desired destination. You'll learn where your thinking is broken and misguided. And, you'll be able to figure out the best way to move forward.

In my coaching work, this is all about getting to the core of why someone made the choices they've made.

Personally, I use a little technique called the "Five Whys". It was invented in the 1930s by Sakichi Toyoda for understanding what went wrong in production and planning practices at Toyota at the time.

The beauty of Toyoda's technique is it cuts to the real core of an issue.

I'd encourage you to try it out for yourself today. Especially if you're stuck.

Simply ask yourself WHY five times. You'll head all the way back to before the beginning and clearly see the cause and effect of your choices.

Just something to consider as you navigate life today.

Here's to getting to the bottom of things in order to get ahead...

Steve Knox

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